II. The Life of a Child Domestic Worker

Fatima K. started working when she was nine, she told Human Rights Watch.[38] She was told that her job would be answering phones, but on arrival in Casablanca, she realized that she would be the only domestic worker in a household with five children.  She was expected to wake before dawn to make breakfast for the children and work non-stop until 11 p.m. She prepared meals, washed dishes, cleaned the floor, took care of the employer’s baby, did shopping, and served guests. “I got very tired,” she said. 

Fatima’s employer beat her and verbally abused her. “At the beginning, she was just slapping me,” Fatima said, “but the second time, she used a plastic plumbing pipe. She beat me when I broke something or when I got in a dispute with her son. She slapped me on my face and on my shoulder.”

When Fatima fell ill, she said, she didn’t dare ask her employer for medicine or to take her to the doctor. “If I asked her [for medicine], she would say that I was there to work, not to be taken care of, and if she gave me medicine, she would deduct the cost from my salary,” she said.

Fatima worked for the employer for two years with no holidays. “The most difficult part was not seeing my mother during that period,” she said. “I didn’t even get to talk to her on the telephone.”

*****

Girls employed as domestic workers are responsible for a range of household tasks, depending on their age. They may cook and prepare meals, wash dishes, do laundry, wash floors and carpets, do shopping for the family, care for young children, walk older children to and from school, help them prepare their lunches, and serve guests. Younger girls are often not expected to cook but may be expected to take on such responsibilities as they get older. Fatima said that initially, she did little cooking, only preparing simple dishes such as eggs, but within six months, was asked to prepare more complicated dishes and to cook couscous. [39]

Girls who begin work at young ages often find themselves unprepared for such responsibilities. At age 11, Hanan E. was expected to care for a baby, but said she didn’t know how.[40] Zohra H. initially didn’t know how to do laundry and said she asked her mother to teach her when she was allowed to go home to visit.[41]

Most of the girls interviewed were the only domestic worker employed by the household, and in some cases, were expected to carry out most of the household tasks for families of up to eight members. In a few cases, the family employed more than one domestic worker to share the tasks.

Long Hours and Lack of Rest

Although the Moroccan Labor Code sets 44 hours per week as the limit for the industrial sector, there is no minimum set by law for the hours worked by domestic workers. As a result, child domestic workers are at the mercy of their employer. A few described working just a few hours a day or having several hours off in the afternoon or evening, while others began working early in the morning and did not finish until evening, with little opportunity for rest. In the most extreme cases, girls described beginning work at 6 a.m. and continuing until midnight. The child domestic worker often was expected to be the first one up in the morning and the last person to bed at night. Fatima K. said, “The woman would not accept it if she came into the kitchen in the morning and found that I was not there.” [42] She described the pressure to work continuously: “The woman [the employer] wouldn’t let me sit. Even if I was finished with my tasks she wouldn’t let me sit. I had to act as if I was working because if she saw me sitting, she would shout at me.” [43] Malika S., who began working at age 11, typically began work at 6 a.m. She said, “The house was big. In this house, you never stop working. When I finished cleaning the floor, the woman asked me to do it again.” [44]

Most of the girls worked seven days a week with no day off. Najat S., who started work at age nine, said she worked for two years without receiving a day off or the chance to go home to visit her family.[45] Hanan E., who started work at age eleven, also told us she worked for more than two years with no days off. She typically worked from 5 or 6 in the morning until midnight. If she tried to rest, her employer would shout at her. Hanan said, “I felt very tired and that the woman did not care about me.”[46]

Wage Exploitation

As of July 1, 2011, the minimum wage for the industrial sector in Morocco was 2,230.80 dirhams (US$254) per month. It increased to 2,333.76 dirhams ($265) per month on July 1, 2012.[47]  No minimum wage is currently established for domestic work.

The girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch, on average, earned 545 dirhams ($61) per month, barely one-quarter of the minimum wage for industrial jobs, often for working hours far in excess of the 44 hours per week set by the labor code for the industrial sector. While some earned as much as 750 dirhams ($84) per month, Nadia R. told us she earned only 100 dirhams ($11) per month and several said that they had no idea of their wages. In almost all cases, their wages were negotiated by an intermediary or their parents, and were paid directly to their parents.

In addition to their cash salary, domestic workers who live with their employers are also provided with room and board, which is discussed below. Although it is difficult to estimate the monetary value of these “in-kind” payments, the evidence gathered for this report suggests that their value does not come close to making up the gap between a typical domestic worker’s cash salary and the prevailing minimum wage. International standards state that payments in kind should represent only a limited portion of domestic worker’s remuneration.[48]

Beginning at age nine, Najat S. spent two years working in a Casablanca household for 350 dirhams ($40) per month, she told Human Rights Watch. Her employer allowed her a few hours rest in the afternoon, but she still typically worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a total of 84 hours per week. On an hourly basis, her wages averaged about 1 dirham ($0.11) per hour, less than 10 percent of Morocco’s formal minimum wage.[49]

Hanan E. said she earned 250 dirhams ($28) per month while working for more than two years without a day off. She said she typically worked 18 hours a day, from 5 or 6 a.m. until midnight, or over 120 hours per week, for less than half a dirham per hour. After she left the job, her father told her that her employer had reduced her wages over time, paying even less than the agreed 250 dirhams per month, claiming that she was deducting money to cover clothes and food for Hanan. Hanan said that the employer never bought her clothes and that the food she provided was often inedible.[50]

Several girls expressed fear that their employer would deduct money from their wages and that this would cause hardships for their families. Fatima K. did not know how much her family received for her work, but said that when she became ill, she did not ask her employer for medicine for fear that the cost would be deducted from her salary. She once broke a vase that belonged to her employer, and said, “The woman threatened to tell my father, so when I saw him, I told him that everything was okay. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to come home, but I never did because I was afraid the woman would tell him about the vase and she would deduct the cost from my wages.”[51] 

Girls who worked in multiple households reported that their wages typically increased over time. Even after years of employment, however, only one former child domestic worker reported receiving more than 750 dirhams per month. Even at this wage, however, such an experienced domestic worker made only 34 percent of the minimum wage of the formal sector, often for far longer hours of work.

None of the girls interviewed said they received any spending money of their own. Latifa L. said that if there was some money left after she finished shopping for the family, she would use it to call her family from a public phone.[52] Although most of the girls said that their employer provided them with essentials like soap and toothpaste, very few of the girls said that their employer provided them with clothes or other items. Amina M. said that when she needed soap or shampoo, sometimes her employer would provide them, but not always. “Sometimes I’d ask but she refused, so I stopped asking.”[53]  Zohra H. said that she brought personal items and toiletries from her family’s home when she visited.[54]

Verbal and Physical Violence

The majority of the former child domestic workers Human Rights Watch interviewed described both verbal and physical abuse by their employers. Fatima K. said: “The woman beat me whenever I did something she didn’t like. She beat me with anything she found in front of her. Sometimes with a wooden stick, sometimes with her hand, sometimes with a plastic pipe. When I asked her not to beat me with such things, she would say, “It’s not up to you what I can beat you with.”[55]

Aziza S., who started working in Casablanca when she was nine, said, “The woman never spoke to me with respect. She used every bad word she could think of.  She talked to me badly. When I didn’t do something as she wanted, she started shouting at me and took me into a room and started beating me. This happened several times a week. She beat me with her hands and pinched me. Once she beat me with a stick.”[56]

Employers beat girls if tasks were not completed to their satisfaction or if the girl broke something, the girls told us. In some instances, girls took the blame for incidents involving the employers’ children. Fatima K. said that once her employer slapped her on the face because the employer’s daughter broke a laptop computer. “I wasn’t even there,” said Fatima, “but the woman blamed me.”[57]

The 20 former child domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch worked in a total of 35 different households. They reported physical beatings in 19 of those 35 households and verbal abuse, typically shouting or insults, in 24 of 35.

Sexual Violence and Harassment

The isolation of child domestic workers in private homes puts them at particular risk of sexual violence from male members of the household in which they work. Aziza S., 13, said she started working in Casablanca when she was 9. Her employer had two sons; the eldest was 22 years old. Aziza told Human Rights Watch: “One time when the woman traveled, the son got drunk and tried to rape me. I pushed back and ran away.… I didn’t know where the police were, but there was a bus stop near my employer’s house. I ran to the bus stop and told the bus driver my story. He took me to the police.”[58]

The police took Aziza to a shelter run by social services; she never returned to her employer and said she did not know if the police conducted an investigation.

Fatima K., now fifteen, worked at a house in Casablanca for two years beginning when she was nine. She said that her employer’s oldest son, age 20, would often beat her and that once when she was alone in the house, he entered from the back door and approached her from behind, covering her mouth with his hand. Her employer came home before he did anything further, but Fatima said that she was afraid of being alone with him.[59]

Amal K., now 25, worked for several households beginning when she was 9 years old. [60] She told Human Rights Watch that she was sexually assaulted in two of the households where she worked. She said when she was 14: “The eldest son came into my room and did things to me. He told me not to tell anyone. I didn’t tell anyone. I was afraid he would hurt me if I told.” One of the other sons once tried to force her to kiss him in the kitchen, she told us.

Amal also described an assault that took place in a different household when she was 19:

In one house where I worked, the husband tried to rape me. He grabbed me by force and tried to take off my clothes. The woman came in and he slapped me on the face. He said he was punishing me because I was not willing to do some work. I didn’t tell the woman what really happened because I was frightened that he might do something bad to me. I was 19 years old. In that case, I was an adult, so what would happen to someone who was younger?[61]

Food Deprivation and Living Conditions

Several of the girls said their employers did not give them enough food and that they were often hungry. Hanan E. said her employer sometimes gave her leftovers that had become inedible.[62] Samira B. said that she was given olive oil and bread twice a day. “I didn’t get breakfast until I cleaned the floor, did the other morning tasks, and cooked lunch. I didn’t get dinner until the family slept. The family ate lunch but didn’t leave me any food.”[63] Samira’s employer often beat her, and she said that even though she was often hungry, she didn’t ask for more food because she was scared.

Latifa L. also said she received only two meals a day. She ate breakfast at 7 in the morning, but had no other food until receiving dinner at around midnight. She finally left the house because, she said, “I felt tired and there was not enough food. I don’t mind working, but to be beaten and not to have enough food, this is the hardest part of it.”[64]

A few girls reported that they ate with their employer’s family and received the same food as the family ate, while others said they ate separately, often eating what was left over from the employers’ meal. If there was no food left over, sometimes the girls would be allowed to prepare something else, but in other cases, the girl would simply not eat. Zohra H. said that for breakfast, she was given cheese and a bit of bread, and for lunch, she ate eggs, tomato, and onion. She received no food after lunch. When the family had dinner, they did not give her any food. She said she was sometimes hungry but didn’t ask for more. “I was shy and I was afraid that she [the employer] would beat me if I asked her.”[65]

Some of the girls had their own room and their own bed to sleep in at night, but others said they slept on the couch in the living room, in a closet, or on the floor. For nearly a year, Zohra slept on the floor in a closet, with one blanket to sleep on, and another to cover herself. She said, “At night it was sometimes cold.”[66] Samira B. said she slept on blankets on the kitchen floor.[67]

Isolation

Child domestic workers often travel long distances from their homes to work as domestic workers. Girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch typically found themselves in a strange city, where they knew no one apart from their employers’ families. Many of the girls were not allowed outside of their employer’s home. 

Many child domestic workers interviewed said they had limited or no contact with their own families during their employment. Fatima K. worked for her employer for two years, beginning at age nine, without seeing or speaking to her mother.[68] In other cases, girls were allowed to call their families, but their employer stayed near the phone during the call to monitor their conversations so that the girls were not allowed to speak freely. Leila E. was an exception: she said her employer bought her a cellphone so that she could speak to her family once a week.[69] 

Malika S. said that her employer repeatedly refused her requests to contact her father. Finally she lied and said she was ill so that she could call her brother. Once she reached him, she asked him to come fetch her.[70] Hafida H. was able to speak with her family once a week by telephone and go home to visit for two weeks each year. However, she said that she was not able to get used to living at her employer’s house and said that, “I felt like I was living in a prison.”[71]

Most of the girls Human Rights Watch interviewed, even those enduring routine violence and exhausting working conditions, said they did not consider running away. They stayed because they were not familiar with the city and did not know where to go or who to approach for help. Aziza S., who started working in Casablanca when she was nine, explained, “I never thought about it [running away], because I didn’t know the neighborhood. I didn’t know anyone. I only knew what I could see from the window.”[72]  Some of the girls also faced language barriers if they spoke Tamazight and did not understand Arabic, the language spoken by the majority of Moroccans.

Lack of Access to Education

None of the child domestic workers Human Rights Watch interviewed were allowed to attend school by their employers. Karima R. said, “My employer told my parents I would be allowed to go to school, but I never was able to go. The woman never told me why.”[73] Souad B. said she once asked her employer if she could attend school, but her employer refused without giving a reason.[74] Although a few of the girls interviewed initially were promised an education, most of the girls entered domestic work knowing that they were hired to work and had no expectation of going to school.

For some, seeing the children of their employer or other children in the neighborhood attend school when they had no such opportunity was particularly difficult. When Karima R. was asked about the most difficult aspect of being a domestic worker, she replied, “The hardest part was when I saw other girls going to school and I was forced to stay at the house.” [75]  

Lack of Protection and Pressure to Keep Working

Few of the girls described any government intervention in their situations, including those employed illegally because they were under the minimum age for employment and those who experienced physical or psychological abuse.

None of the girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they approached the police or knew of any government entity that could offer them assistance. Only two dared to appeal outside their family for assistance. Aziza S. fled her employer’s home when the employer’s son tried to rape her. She said, “I didn’t know where the police were, but there was a bus stop near my employer’s house. I ran to the bus stop and told the bus driver my story. He took me to the police.”[76] She said the police then took her to social services. At age 10, Karima R. worked for an employer who, she said, verbally abused her and treated her badly. Karima heard about Bayti, an NGO that assists vulnerable children, from a local hairdresser. When her employer beat her with a belt, Karima told the hairdresser, who took her to Bayti.[77]

A social assistant[78] working with former child domestic workers said:

The majority of the girls do not know of any kind of assistance or of any law that protects them if they are subject to violence. Some flee and try to find their intermediary or go home, if they know the way. Sometimes they get lost. Often girls change household because of how they are treated, or they lie to the employer and give a pretext, for example, that their mother is sick, so they can go home.[79]

In some cases of underage employment or abusive treatment, NGOs intervene. For example, Bayti came to the house where Souad B. worked to speak with her about her working conditions after Souad’s older sister, who also worked as a domestic worker in Casablanca, asked the organization to check on Souad.[80]  In other cases Human Rights Watch documented, INSAF, the NGO described above, approached the families of girl domestic workers to educate them about the risks of domestic work and to offer monthly stipends if they agreed to bring their daughters home and enroll them in school.

A number of girls said they left their employer by appealing to their families to allow them to come home. Some families agreed only reluctantly, or tried to convince the girl to keep working, even under abusive conditions, in order to maintain income for the family. For example, Amina K., who began working at age 10, said, “It was difficult to convince my father to let me go,” she said. “I told him that the woman was beating me and wouldn’t let me leave the house.” Even once Amina returned home, she said her father wanted her to go to work someplace else, but she refused. “He tried to convince me, but I was tired of working.” [81]

Nadia R. started working at age 12 because her father was making only an irregular income in agriculture. After a month, she said, she came home and told her family that she wanted to go to school and didn’t want to work. “They tried to convince me to stay at the employer’s house, but I refused, so they sent another sister to work for the same family.”[82]

Some of the girls continued to work, enduring physical violence and exhausting working conditions without complaint because of their sense of obligation to their family. Hanan E., who said she would often work from 5 or 6 a.m. until midnight and that her employer often beat her, told us she did not tell her parents the truth about her situation. “I told them everything was okay. I didn’t want them to be sad.”[83]

Positive Experiences

Some of the former child domestic workers described positive experiences with their employers. As mentioned above, Leila E. said that her employer bought her a cell phone so that she could call her family once a week, and that on Sundays, the children in the family often invited her to accompany them to the beach.[84] Rabia M. said that her employer sometimes took her out for sweets in the afternoon.[85] Yasmina M. said that on her day off, Sundays, a daughter from the house took her to the hammam (public bath).[86]

Malika S. worked in three different households by the time she was twelve. She said that the third household was the best: “They were kind with me. They treated me well, they took me outside, they took me with them when they went places. I did the same tasks in that house as the others, but the woman was helping me. I didn’t have any days off, but the work wasn’t hard.”[87]

However, even when treated kindly by their employers, former child domestic workers often described the difficulty of being separated from their family, their sadness at not attending school, and their belief that such work was inappropriate for young girls. Najat S., who began work at age nine, had several hours of rest every afternoon and said that her employers were “nice.” However, she said she missed her family a lot and often cried because she was lonely.[88] All of the girls Human Rights Watch interviewed believed that domestic work was not appropriate for children. Rabia M., age 14, said, “They are too young and they work hard. This kind of work should only be for older people.”[89]

The Future

Sixteen of the twenty former child domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch were back in school through the assistance of INSAF and Bayti, NGOs that assist former child domestic workers. The others were working in other jobs or receiving vocational training through the Association Solidarité Feminine, another NGO. Without exception, the girls who were back in school said they were happy to be studying. None expressed a desire to return to domestic work. Malika R. said, “I don’t like working in houses. In all the houses where I worked, the children were going to school.... Now I am happy I am going to school.” [90]

Najat S. said that in the future, she hopes to become an architect or an engineer. Rabia M. and Zohra H. both said they wanted to become a teacher.[91] Fatima K., who worked in three different households, said, “I would like to do a job to keep girls from working as child domestic workers because I know how they feel.” Hanan E., who was repeatedly beaten by her employer, said she wanted to become a police investigator. “If you are a police investigator, you defend and protect yourself,” she said. “You don’t have to wait for someone else to defend and protect you.”